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World's Oldest Stone Tools Discovered In Kenya
sciencehabit writes: Researchers say they have found the oldest tools made by human ancestors—stone flakes dated to 3.3 million years ago. That's 700,000 years older than the oldest-known tools to date, suggesting that our ancestors were crafting tools several hundred thousand years before our genus Homo arrived on the scene. If correct, the new evidence could confirm disputed claims for very early tool use, and it suggests that ancient australopithecines like the famed 'Lucy' may have fashioned stone.
Considering that plenty of non-human ancestors also use tools I'm not sure how what they say shows tool use, also shows that it was a human-ancestor that used them.
...to bang the rocks together, guys.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Nothing is older than ex
Before IS and their Al-Shabaab buddies come and blow those non-muslim relics to smithereens...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
If poking at bush babies with a broken stick to hurt them enough to come out to be eaten constitutes a tool, then Fongoli chimpanzees of Senegal (NYT article) use tools. At least the females do, the males do he-male things like chase down their prey. It is thought the females do this because they are not big and brawny like the males. Actually, the males just feel like they are losing their testosterone if they stoop to using tools...or asking the females which direction their prey went.
I mean, how can you tell rock flakes from 3.3 million year old corn flakes...
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
I was wondering where I left those.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Ants are awesome; but really a different flavor: they(along with termites) manage to get extremely impressive results from emergent behavior among swarms of really, really, dumb individuals. Very cool, particularly fascinating if you are trying to get good results from multiple agents without tacking on an unweildy command and control system.
The sort of tool use in TFA is interesting because it suggests fairly advanced cognition(and sometimes communication and transmission of learned techniques). Ants aren't so hot at that.
...still confuses management.
Are there any pictures of these stone flakes?
Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
Sure beats my screwdriver that reads 'made in East Germany'
Good people go to bed earlier.
Why there are no photos of the found tools in the article? Do not archeologists have a photo-camera, or at least smartphone with a camera?
"World;s Oldest Stone"
That's Keith Richards isn't it?
Take them back to Sears and exchange them for new ones.
Seeing as chimps have been observed making and using tools, it would seem at least plausible that our common ancestor 4 to 6 million years ago was making and using tools too.
Chimps have been seen to make wooden tools (which obviously don't preserve very well in the fossil record), and to use stone tools. I don't know of them being observed to make stone tools, but that doesn't seem like it would be a huge leap.
So the difference between early man's use of tools and that of our co-chimpanzee ancestor was most likely just one of degree, if anything.
Probably not, but obsidian does make one helluva sharp flake.
Disney documentatary about orphaned boy chimp adopted by a male adult (unusual). They used stones to crack open nuts. It is not an easy skill to learn. They did not reshape the stones. This suggests stone tools used many million years earlier than than this.
To get likely first use age. Another example. oldest clothing evidence is about 30K years. But lice genetics points to clothing lice evolved about 70K years ago.
You can always spot the Democrat when they use the term "Repubitard" because that's the best their their public education could afford on welfare.
Swing and a miss.
I vote Liberal, I call myself a socialist, I sent my kids to private school and I probably make more than you.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Pleased to inform you the movie came out in the mid 70's.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00...
It's called Phase IV
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
You are very harch Mr. just because he missed the L in Republitard? /.
Or what exactly was your point?
I actually doubt people living on welfare (and what is wrong with that?) are common on
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Some time between now and November 2016, I would like to see one article about Africa that doesn't have a comment from some mouth-breather emoting all over the page about Obama.
Is that really too much to ask.
I am sick up to here of the bullshit.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Alas, the only known emergent sentience is the one that exists in the neuron colony inside each of our skulls; but there are some pretty damn cool sub-sentient emergent behaviors even in quite limited organisms. Bacteria in biofilms do some very impressive things, as do slime molds when they form masses.
It's too bad that (to the best of my knowledge, and I've hunted a bit), no organisms have evolved to exploit RF signalling. It's not inconceivable, loads of organisms use electrical signalling internally, a fair number have magnetic sensory structures, and a variety of common metals are amenable to biological chemistry if you need a better antenna; but that's the sort of thing that would make linking multiple nervous systems with reasonable speed and without direct contact possible.